This invention relates to the field of portable dispensers for adhesive or pressure-sensitive tape.
It is well known in the art to provide receptacles or containers for pressure-sensitive tape, e.g., transparent or other thin plastic tape or paper tape, which containers are equipped with a cutting device, typically a flat element having plastic or metal teeth suitable for tearing the tape. Typically, such prior art devices are designed so that a roll of tape can be positioned in them, and when it is desired to use a portion of the tape, the user unrolls a desired segment of tape and then draws the tape across the cutting edge, severing the segment from the remainder of the roll. This leaves an end portion of tape extending from the unused or stored roll to the cutting edge. After use of the dispenser, such an end portion is left suspended only on the teeth of the cutting edge. Consequently, the suspended portion often comes loose from the teeth and falls back onto the roll and adheres there. This makes it necessary for the user to find the end where it adheres to the roll and disengage or free a portion of it to grasp each time the device is used. Also, when the suspended portion falls back against the roll, it may be in a wrinkled or distorted configuration or it may contact an inner wall of the container, such that, in either case, the adhesive characteristics of the segment are reduced or destroyed. This makes it necessary to sever and discard the ruined portion before the device is next used.
The problem of having the end of the tape suspended only on the teeth of the cutting edge can be eliminated by running the portion over a wide flat surface between the stored roll and the cutting edge. With this kind of device, the segment of tape running from the unused roll to the cutting edge (when the dispenser is not in use) will contact and adhere to the wide surface sufficiently securely to keep it from falling back into the dispenser and adhering to the roll or to the inner walls. Unfortunately, when the tape is stored in this manner, i.e., in contact with a wide supporting surface between the roll and the cutting edge, this also may ruin the adhesive characteristics of the contacted portion of the tape when it is pulled loose from the wide surface. Also, this type of device will make it difficult for the user to grasp the end portion of the tape, and, typically, one will have to scrape the tape loose from the wide surface, again destroying a segment, which will have to be discarded before the remainder can be used.
Lack of structural rigidity is still another problem with prior art tape dispensers. It is highly desirable to make dispensers from inexpensive paperboard or cardboard so that they can be discarded after the tape is consumed. However, for such inexpensive dispeners the structures are often flimsy and tend to be torn or damaged long before the roll of tape is consumed. When the cutting edge is supported on a flimsy structure of that type, it is often difficult to use it to tear the tape, since the structure is not sufficiently rigid to resist being deformed, and thus it yields or even collapses when the user attempts to draw the tape across the cutting edge.
There has been a long felt need for an inexpensive disposable dispenser which was sufficiently sturdy to be durable and long-wearing. It is also desirable to provide such a dispenser that is designed to provide a means for allowing the user to grip the end of the tape for pulling it from the roll without the necessity of scraping it loose from either the body of the dispenser or from the roll of tape itself. It is also desirable that such a dispenser be provided with a means for supporting the end portion of the tape when the dispenser is not in use, so that the end portion will adhere somewhat to the cutting device, and yet will not adhere so tightly that its adhesive qualities are significantly diminished when it is pulled loose for use.
These and other objects are achieved in accordance with the present invention.